Howard 100 News hit pieces on Leno - Beating a dead horse

Chob

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Oct 11, 2008
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Now first off I have to say I've always appreciated the Howard 100 News. And I really enjoyed the 6:00 newscasts they had early on and felt that format did the news more justice than the short sound bytes during commercials.

And I always appreciated the stealth parody of how seriously "real" news organizations take themselves. Especially with Steve Langford and his antics. He's been hilariously persistent with both silly shit like Benjy's age, and more serious stuff like the Geo Group investigation.

But I've gotten fed up with the recent focus on chronicling the failure of The Jay Leno Show. It's really taken the Leno obsession to a new level. It's just pandering to Howard and I get the feeling a lot of listeners are tired of the Leno rants and there's a lot more the Howard 100 News could be focusing it's coverage on.

To me, these pieces do nothing but draw attention to a show that's losing it's audience and will probably fade into obscurity soon enough. Howard's always gone after people and has had this beef with Leno for years. But I think the around the clock coverage of every rating or comment a critic has about the show is beyond excessive.

I hope I'm not being the guy who doesn't get it and is missing the joke, but is anyone actually enjoying this coverage?
 

RDog

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Oct 18, 2008
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I agree with everything you said, and I'll take it a step further for myself, personally - Howard and Howard 100 News has now convinced me that the Leno show IS a success!

Leno's show is a mess from what I have seen, but, they seem to gloss over that is is an extremely cheap show to produce, far cheaper than trying to manufacture a hit drama in the same timeslot. Even with moderate ratings, at least costs are low. Even as a bad lead-in for the news, at least costs are low. NBC has been struggling for awhile now and Leno could actually be their saving grace, at least for now.

I would have never thought of any of this if not for Howard and the News constantly beating it into my head. Thanks, Howard! I'm sure the Leno crew laugh daily when they hear Stern giving them free advertising and promoting the hell out of them. Any publicity is good publicity in Tinseltown, right?
 

beaniemac

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Dec 12, 2008
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I agree leno's show is some cornball sh*t, but the straw that broke the camel's back is when they went on a rant about the free comedy shows he did in detroit for people and trying to spin that as if that were a bad thing.
 

Spokker

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Jan 15, 2009
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Any money Leno's show saves the network is lost by the fact that it's very difficult to sell DVDs of a late night program or syndicate reruns. Those crime drama DVDs fly off the shelves.
 

Kryptonite

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Oct 21, 2008
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Now first off I have to say I've always appreciated the Howard 100 News. And I really enjoyed the 6:00 newscasts they had early on and felt that format did the news more justice than the short sound bytes during commercials.

And I always appreciated the stealth parody of how seriously "real" news organizations take themselves. Especially with Steve Langford and his antics. He's been hilariously persistent with both silly shit like Benjy's age, and more serious stuff like the Geo Group investigation.

But I've gotten fed up with the recent focus on chronicling the failure of The Jay Leno Show. It's really taken the Leno obsession to a new level. It's just pandering to Howard and I get the feeling a lot of listeners are tired of the Leno rants and there's a lot more the Howard 100 News could be focusing it's coverage on.

To me, these pieces do nothing but draw attention to a show that's losing it's audience and will probably fade into obscurity soon enough. Howard's always gone after people and has had this beef with Leno for years. But I think the around the clock coverage of every rating or comment a critic has about the show is beyond excessive.

I hope I'm not being the guy who doesn't get it and is missing the joke, but is anyone actually enjoying this coverage?


Before Jay Leno, it was Steve obsessing over the Kenneth Keith (Geo Group) stuff. Maybe that's just Steve's style, to be the bulldog who doesn't stop until he gets what he wants.



I agree with everything you said, and I'll take it a step further for myself, personally - Howard and Howard 100 News has now convinced me that the Leno show IS a success!

Leno's show is a mess from what I have seen, but, they seem to gloss over that is is an extremely cheap show to produce, far cheaper than trying to manufacture a hit drama in the same timeslot. Even with moderate ratings, at least costs are low. Even as a bad lead-in for the news, at least costs are low. NBC has been struggling for awhile now and Leno could actually be their saving grace, at least for now.

I would have never thought of any of this if not for Howard and the News constantly beating it into my head. Thanks, Howard! I'm sure the Leno crew laugh daily when they hear Stern giving them free advertising and promoting the hell out of them. Any publicity is good publicity in Tinseltown, right?


NBC has basically admitted that their show won't live up to the expected numbers, but if they can get decent ratings, compared to their budget, they should be ok. They also said that the Tonight Show with Jay Leno was a huge hit, but not for a while.

I think a lot of people were expecting it to be an overnight smash hit. NBC has taken the opposite approach.

Was Super Bowl V a huge must-see event? I think this is what NBC is trying to get at.
 

beaniemac

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Dec 12, 2008
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Any money Leno's show saves the network is lost by the fact that it's very difficult to sell DVDs of a late night program or syndicate reruns. Those crime drama DVDs fly off the shelves.

not to mention that leno is killing all the NBC news affiliates and their late night programming due to his ratings.
 

Chob

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Oct 11, 2008
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I wonder what has had more continued coverage this story or the story about American Idol being rigged. I think that was the Howard 100 News investigative team for 2007.
I actually enjoyed that since it was somewhat of an investigative piece, not just a douchey smear campaign. But yeah, they tend to focus in on things and lose sight of other stories.
 

Spokker

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Jan 15, 2009
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not to mention that leno is killing all the NBC news affiliates and their late night programming due to his ratings.
Of course. This story goes far beyond, "The show costs less to produce therefore it's profitable, lol." The fact of the matter is, this is the biggest bonehead move at NBC since they fired Norm McDonald from SNL. They said it succinctly on the show the other day, it's penny-wise and pound-foolish.

Here is what they should have done as much as I hate to say it. They should have kept Jay Leno on the Tonight Show. I can't stand that motherfucker's brand of comedy, but he was getting the job done at 11:30PM.

Reiterate the commitment to Conan at 12:30. If he leaves, he leaves. Foster some other young, irreverent talent at 12:30. Conan isn't setting the world on fire at 11:30 and he scared off Leno's old audience who likely migrated to Nightline. Leno would have beat Conan at 11:30 if Conan had gone elsewhere.
 

Snoozer

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Oct 13, 2008
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I'm not a leno fan but I'm tired of the news covering it. I prefer whn it's just Howard going into a 10 min irrational rant about him.
 

TheScionicMan

Last non-Hating Stern Fan
Oct 11, 2008
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I think its some funny shit. Many of the news stories are just to get Howard riled up, and this one works well.

The show is so bad. It could actually be worse than his Tonight Show. It the slowest paced show ever. If there's any hope for that show, they need to do something closer to Laugh In, than the slightly tweaked Tonight Show...
 

Neigh

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Oct 16, 2008
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I turn off the radio when he launches into another Captain Jenks story.

Too bad Howard 100 News is not allowed to report on Howard.
Does this non-reporting extend to Artie? I would have expected Howard 100 News to camp out in front of Artie's apartment building.
 

Kryptonite

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Oct 21, 2008
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The fact of the matter is,

NOOOOOOOO!!!!

EVIL WORDS!!!!!!!!!!!!

howard-stern-hands-up.jpg



(sorry, I couldn't resist.)
 

TheScionicMan

Last non-Hating Stern Fan
Oct 11, 2008
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I'd love to see a critique of Jay's show like they do with every minute of Howard's show. I guess it doesn't matter since its mostly about the ol' "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" deal...
 

robhurlburt

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Oct 15, 2008
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I think the whole leno bit is old and played. I FFW right through howards rants, its just boring time filler.

Same with him opening up with "yeah, i beat off last night. its like pulling on a taffy."
Artie - "wow haha, really?"
Robin - "no...really? haha!"

Same with the boring repetative porn stars, any beth-o segment (especially when its her friends as guest), and any boring repetitive guests (joan rivers etc)

The effort just isn't there anymore <-- beating a dead horse. Granted there are some hilarious times, but they seem to be coming further and further in-between. Its more background sound now.
 

VinnyM27

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Oct 14, 2008
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Howard's obsession with Jay and Letterman is getting to be reGoddamnndiclous. It's such a sad regurgitation and shows his jealousy of not being in the mainstream anymore (despite the phony numbers of subscribers he keeps touting). The Leno thing is interesting because his ratings are so low and the show really is bad. But the Letterman thing isn't all that interesting yet it shows just how much Howard "LOVES" Letterman. And I'm sure it has nothing to do with Beth's ass getting canned. The phoniness about it kills me.